SK-Deutsche Telekom Joint Venture 'Techmaker' Launches Europe's First Independently Developed Indoor 5G Repeater

First Indoor 5G Repeater Commercialized by European Telecom Company... Sales Begin in Bavaria, Germany
Combining Latest 5G Technologies from Korea and Germany for Tri-band Specs and High Security Implementation

The promotional model is introducing the 'Indoor Booster 5G' product.

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] SK Square, SK Telecom, and global telecom operator Deutsche Telekom, which jointly operate ‘Techmaker,’ launched a Europe-tailored ‘Indoor 5G Repeater’ in Germany on the 21st, just 11 months after its establishment. This is the first indoor 5G repeater independently developed and commercialized by a telecom operator in Europe.

Techmaker is a technology joint venture established in December last year through the collaboration of Vice Chairman Jung-ho Park and Deutsche Telekom Chairman Timotheus H?ttges, combining SK Telecom’s 5G technology and Deutsche Telekom’s business competitiveness to promote global technology ventures. Following SK Telecom’s spin-off on the 1st of this month, Techmaker became a subsidiary under SK Square.

The repeater developed by Techmaker is the first of its kind introduced to the European market. It receives frequency signals through an external antenna on the building and transmits them indoors, significantly enhancing 5G speed and coverage inside buildings.

Most European countries have strict building management standards, making indoor 5G usage challenging. Consequently, indoor 5G repeaters are emerging as an efficient solution to deploy 5G in offices or homes where video streaming, education, and video conferencing are heavily used.

Deutsche Telekom has started selling the indoor 5G repeater developed by Techmaker, beginning in Bavaria in southeastern Germany, led by Munich. As part of its strategy to expand 5G coverage, the plan is to increase sales nationwide across Germany.

Both business (B2B) and individual (B2C) customers can rent the indoor 5G repeater by paying a monthly fee of 19.95 euros (approximately 27,000 KRW). It will also be supplied free of charge depending on customer needs.

‘Indoor Booster 5G’

Techmaker successfully developed the repeater by integrating the latest 5G technologies from SK Telecom and Deutsche Telekom. It supports tri-band frequencies of 800MHz, 1.8GHz, and 2.1GHz and meets the high security standards required by the German financial industry.

Before commercialization, the 5G·LTE repeater developed in Korea was optimized for European usage environments and underwent thorough verification, including several months of pilot service in eight major German cities (Berlin, Hamburg, Bonn, Cologne, Munich, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Darmstadt).

The manufacturing and supply of the repeater equipment are handled by Solid, a specialized domestic repeater company. This is expected to foster mutual growth by expanding sales of a Korean small and medium-sized enterprise in the European market. Solid collaborated with Techmaker from the early stages of repeater development and directly supplies the equipment to Deutsche Telekom.

Techmaker plans to earn a portion of the repeater sales revenue as technology royalties. In the future, it aims to continuously develop new technologies in various fields such as digital infrastructure, network solutions, and platforms, and introduce them to the global market.

Heon Lee, Managing Director of SK Square, stated, “We expect Techmaker to grow into a global technology leader through close cooperation among SK Square, SK Telecom, and Deutsche Telekom.” Hyung-il Ha, Corporate Development Officer at SK Telecom, said, “The Techmaker repeater business is the result of SK Telecom’s 20 years of accumulated technology development know-how. We will continue to create global expansion cases utilizing ICT innovative technologies.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.